Of course Tyrion is the ultimate amoral ******* you can't help but root for.

I don't know if I'd say that much about Tyrion. He's a complicated character, without a doubt.

His dwarfism makes him an oddity, since life in Westeros is so hard that a child with birth defects would ordinarily be left to die. But since he's a Lannister he's had the benefit of the best of care due to the family's riches. But in contrast, he's always had the disdain of his own father since Tyrion's mother died giving birth to him. And Tywin won't seem to forgive Tyrion for that. And his siblings are near perfect, which makes Tyrion that much more of an outcast. Tyrion's personal moral failings seem to be an exercise in him seeking refuge and comfort since he gets next to none from his family.

Where Tyrion really seems to show his character is in the dealings with the other House of the Seven Kingdoms. When it comes to dealing with the Starks, he's been very honorable. He acted very much as a good counsel to Jon Snow when he rode up to The Wall. He chastised Joffrey for not showing proper courtesy to Catelyn Stark following Bran's fall. And he was one of the few people to comfort Sansa Stark following Ned's execution at Joffrey's hands.

Tyrion has the makings of a statesman, but a terrible personal life. Of the three Lannister children, I think that only he would be a proper heir to Casterly Rock. But Tywin's grudge against him has clearly stood in the way of him leading the Lannister house.

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Last week's episode was the balls, but I think I enjoyed last night's even more.

Opening with the Beric-Hound fight was great and everything in between to Tywin with his children was fantastic. Loved Jaime's monolog and it's good to see Stannis' wife and daughter (Selyse is nuts and gives Lysa Arryn a run for the money in the cuckcoo department).

I always figured the last shot of the season would be zombie Cat (matches the fantasy elements of season's 1 dragons and last season's White Walkers), but after last night with Beric's resurrection and Arya's subsuquent wish to bring back Ned, I can almost guarantee it.

Aside from Jon Snow and the Wildlings climbing The Wall in this past Sunday's episode, it appears that "The Climb" was very much about setting the stage for events later in this season, and presumably next season.

Having read the books, Robb's meeting with the Frey's in an effort to marry off Edmure Tully so that he can re-establish his alliance with the Frey's was a little chilling. Simply because if you've read the books, you know where this plotline will eventually lead.

The head scratcher scene of this episode? It had to be Melisandre coming to the camp of the Brotherhood without Banners. Simply because that seems to be a creation of the show, and not the novels. But it does serve to establish that both Melisandre and Thoros of Myr are both priests of the Red God. Readers of the books will know that Thoros' actions in bringing back Beric Dondarrion will have implications down the line in novels that have already been released. My personal belief is that Melisandre may exercise this very same power in a book that is yet to be released.

Anyhow, I don't recall this Melisandre / Thoros meeting as anything that happened in the books. And I think it had more to do with Gendry than anything else. My belief is that Gendry will stand in the series as the SOLE bastard heir of Robert Baratheon, and the HBO show will totally disregard the other established Baratheon bastard, Edric Storm. IIRC, Stannis wound up holding Edric Storm captive. And I think that for the purposes of the show, Gendry will serve as a composite character of both himself from the novels as well as Edric Storm.

The climb? It was very cool to see The Wall like this, and not as part of the scenery of Castle Black. And as Jon, Ygritte, Tormund and the other Wildlings made the climb, I was very mindful of some words from the book: "The Wall defends itself". When that ice face came down, those words had a whole new sense of gravity.

The maneuvering of Tywin Lannister and the Queen of Thorns to marry off their heirs for political gain made for a great scene. And where a lot of people may have previously written off Sansa Stark as an inconsequential character, she now has some serious things happening to her. Because Tywin is regarding her as the heir to Winterfell, and the key to ruling the North.

But the scene that had me wondering where it would go? Of all things, it was Samwell Tarly and Gilly in the wild, with Gilly's son. When Sam took out the obsidian dagger, I was really wondering if we would see the possible origin of his nickname. But I think that may come later as they get closer to The Wall.

« Last Edit: May 8, 2013, 01:36 PM by Nicklab »

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I thought it was a really phenomenal episode. I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it given the absence of Daenerys.

Me too! Danny's storyline in this book is one of my favorites. But there was enough setting up the rest of the season and beyond.

Spoilerish Question below.......................Where is this half season going to end? The Red Wedding? The Royal Wedding? Both? It seems like if they are stretching out this book across two seasons, it will be hard to have both weddings or am I mis-remembering the last half of the book?

Damn you GOT - I actually find myself starting to care about what happens to Jamie Lannister! The thing that really stood out to me in the scene where Dany was dealing with the slave trader was how much she had taken on the mannerisms and tone if Viserys - it was almost uncanny.

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